The Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Austin Meadows was crowned this weeks American League (AL) Player of the Week (POTW) honoree. In the National League (NL), it was Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks who took home the award. Both of these teams are in the hunt for a wildcard spot and great performances from these guys help their cause greatly as they push to continue their seasons into October.
Leading your team to 1 loss for the week? That will earn Ketel Marte and Austin Meadows Player of the Week honors.
(MLB x @WBMasonCo) pic.twitter.com/X2N8lxaNsT
— MLB (@MLB) September 9, 2019
This past week, Meadows smashed 4 home runs with a .522/.593/1.130 slash line for the Rays. In 122 games in 2019 for the Rays, Meadows has a .288/.356/.556 slash line with 28 home runs and 78 RBI. The Rays are looking to sneak into the wildcard role with a minimal lead over the Cleveland Indians, with the Oakland Athletics not far behind. The Rays have fended off the Boston Red Sox who just shook up their front office with the departure of Dave Dombrowski as the President of Baseball Operations.
On the other side of things, Ketel Marte also hit 4 home runs this week for the Diamondbacks. During his run for POTW, he slashed .542/.577/.1.208 for the Diamondbacks. On the full season with the Diamondbacks, Marte has played in 135 games slashing .330/.390/.599 with 32 home runs and 91 RBI in 2019. Being in the league since 2015, Marte has never really had that “break-out” campaign and it seems that in 2019 he has pieced it together after being an almost exact .260 average hitter in his prior seasons.
